Thursday, 25 February 2016

You may have read the Randy Shore article in the Vancouver Sun, or heard a news clip on CHEK and other television stations in BC that fish farms, Marine Harvest, Cermaq, Grieg Seafood et al think that sea lice on outbound salmon fry don't come from fish farms.

Marine Harvest CEO Aarskog asked for help last year because lice are the number one problem around the world in fish farms. Hmm.

Here is the research that BC Marine Harvest has overlooked that show that fish farm lice infect wild salmon fry in BC. It is a long list:

Yes, all the fish farms in Quatsino were over the 3 lice limit last year. And one was 300% to 800% higher than the limit, coming in at more than 27 lice per fish.

So how is it that Marine Harvest figures are so low and they claim lice don't come from fish farms? Seems a pretty shaky assertion to me.

I would add that the April - May time period may catch chum and pink - there aren't that many in Quatsino. But coho migrate to saltwater in July and chinook are estuarial for as much as 6 months after leaving their river of origin, in the summer, not April/May.

I would add that the beach seines were right across from farms so the discrepancy is likely the result of finding figures in the wrong place, as well as at the wrong time. It is not common for fry to be found on beaches, other than chum.

But I would add that as they only found one searun cutthroat trout, that is strong evidence - not followed up - that fish that spend their lives in shallow water just aren't there. They may have died from sea lice and thus not be in the sample, a species of greater interest given that they spend their whole lives in Quatsino Sound - on beaches in 3 feet of water. No steelhead fry were found either. I can't speculate on their number being zero, but they are the species of greatest concern for being near the limits of extinction given their small population size - often runs can have as few as 150 individuals.

About Me

I won the national RODERICK HAIG- BROWN AWARD, 2016, for environmental writing, largely for this blog (www.fishfarmnews.blogspot.com) that has become a global portal for the environmental damage made by Norwegian-style fish farms.
I won the Art Downs Award for 2012 for sustained and outstanding writing on environmental issues, in my case, fish farms.
The award was based on 10 columns on fish farm issues in the Times Colonist newspaper, three public submissions to the Cohen Commission on Fraser sockeye and this blog.
If you want to book me to speak, for a lecture, talk, or panel on fish farm environmental damage, contact me on this blog by leaving a message on a post.